Local Wonder Boys (from left) Matt Haney of Dardanelle, Jared Williamson of Russellville, Jeremy Hoard of Russellville and Kendell Pinkney of Dardanelle have made a large impact on Arkansas Tech’s basketball team this season. (THE COURIER / Joshua Mashon)

In sports, most high school teammates go their separate ways after graduation. Some move on to the college game, some concentrate on academics and some join the work force.

On a rare occasion, they wind up playing together in the college ranks.

While they all took different routes, some longer and farther than the others, four local basketball players found home — at Arkansas Tech University and the court inside Tucker Coliseum.

Jared Williamson and Jeremy “Worm” Hoard of Russellville, and Matt Haney and Kendell Pinkney of Dardanelle have made a lot of noise on the Russellville campus this season as they’ve led the Wonder Boys to a 15-4 record and in a tie with Henderson State atop the Great American Conference with a 7-2 mark.

While they’ve all known, or known of, each other since they were kids, each of the hometown heroes took their own unique path to Arkansas Tech.

The youngest is Pinkney, who took the most traditional route. The Sand Lizards product, who led Dardanelle to the state tournament without a loss (32-0) and was named The Courier’s Tri-County Boys Basketball Player of the Year, signed with the Wonder Boys straight out of high school.

“I really wanted to stay close to home, so I could stay close to mom,” Pinkney said of his decision to sign with Tech. “Plus I thought if I came here it would bring more fans. And they compete here. That’s the main thing. I wanted to compete for a championship, which they do here.”

Pinkney, while he averages the fewest minutes (8.9 mpg.) and points (0.3 ppg.), has been a great leader for the Wonder Boys.

“KP is one of our best leaders,” head coach Doug Karlskint said. “He just brings it every day in practice and he just keeps on improving himself.”

While Pinkney had the most straight-forward path to the Wonder Boys, Haney definitely didn’t take the beaten path. Pinkney’s high school teammate went to John Brown University after graduation, but two words uttered a semester into his college career changed his trajectory: “I’m pregnant.”

That was the news his then-girlfriend delivered. Haney responded as any responsible father would: He put his dreams on hold to take care of his growing family.

“We left (JBU), came home,” Haney said. “I didn’t play the next semester, didn’t go to school. I just worked. I came back to school the next fall. I didn’t play, I just went to school and worked. Then I came back and walked on here with coach (Mark) Downey the next spring.”

Haney, who now juggles family life with wife Kylia and 3-year-old son Braden with basketball and nursing school, said he is lucky to have the support of his family.

“We stay busy for sure,” Haney said. “My wife helps me out with a lot. Without her I probably wouldn’t get all the things done I need.”

Toughness is the word that best describes Haney, both Williamson and Karlskint said.

“Haney, I like him because he’s tough,” Williamson said. “Nothing can keep him down. He has a family and he has one of the hardest majors, nursing, and he still comes to practice and plays. Imagine having a wife and kid, being our age. That’s a lot.”

“Haney’s almost kind of an underdog story with what he’s gone through,” Karlskint added. “To see him being as successful as he is right now is extremely rewarding as a coach.”

The senior, who plans to apply for one more year of eligibility, averages 10.7 points and 4.1 rebounds per game this season. But his game continues to improve as the season progresses. He’s averaged 15 points in his last four GAC contests.

Hoard didn’t want to stay in Russellville, or Arkansas for that matter, after high school. He said he wanted to strike out on his own and see what the world had to offer. He enrolled at Paris Junior College in Paris, Texas, and played there for two seasons. But the 6-foot-3, 180-pound shooter never felt at home playing in Texas.

“In Texas, I felt kind of lost out there,” Hoard said. “I’ve been in Russellville all my life, so I went to Texas and got lost out there. I’m playing in front of people that you have no idea who it is. Just coming back this year, I feel more at home out there on the court. It’s fun, as long as we keep winning.”

After two years in Texas, Hoard felt like he needed a change. But the junior wasn’t sure yet where he wanted to go.

“I figured I had a couple more years and the past few years they’ve been winning (at Tech),” he said. “I wanted to win a championship, so I decided to come to a good program. Coach K is a great coach and he gave me a chance, I just ran with it.”

“I begged him to come back,” Williamson added. “Me and him played high school ball together. He was going to go to Florida and look around at some schools, and some other schools in Texas. But I begged him to come. He says he only came here because of me, but I don’t know. He may just be tellin’ me that to make me feel good.”

Hoard has been a sniper from 3-point range this season, converting on 54.8 percent (51-for-93) of his attempts which is good for No. 2 in all of NCAA Division II.

“Jeremy is one of the best shooters in the country at any level,” Karlskint said. “The way he shoots, he’s an absolute weapon. He’s a threat from anywhere on the floor offensively.”

“Playing with Worm is great, because he’s a great shooter and rarely misses,” Pinkney said. “I wish I could have played with him in high school, because it’s real fun playing with him. He’s from Russellville, too, so he gets more fans in here.”

The most widely recognized of the four is Williamson. His father, Tyrone, was mayor of Russellville, but more people remember his cousin, Corliss. The former NCAA national champion at Arkansas, NBA champion and sixth-man of the year winner at Detroit lured his cousin to Arkansas Baptist after high school with the promise to help improve his game.

While Jared learned plenty in his time under Corliss, when the elder Williamson took the head coaching position at Central Arkansas, Jared had a decision to make.

“I just kind of wanted to come back here,” he said. “This is a winning program — they were winning the last two years before I came.”

“I talked to him the whole time he was at Arkansas Baptist,” Pinkney said. “I know he didn’t really know where he wanted to go. I told him he might as well come home and play in front of fans and family that’s familiar to him and it would mean more to them than (another fan base). It was more like a family thing.”

Williamson, the reigning GAC player of the week, averages 11.2 points and 4.5 rebounds per game and, like Haney, has really turned things up in conference play. He’s scored 16.8 points and has pulled down 5.6 rebounds per game in the past five conference games.

“Jared’s playing at a high level,” Karlskint said, “which has made us a better basketball team.”

Along with playing together in high school, Williamson, Haney and Pinkney all played together with the Arkansas Pride AAU team.

“I started playing AAU in about the sixth grade and we played until the 10th grade,” Williamson said. “Even if we didn’t play AAU together, it’s only a bridge separating us. We could go play at the (Old Post Road) Lock and Dam (park).”

“Growing up, we would hear about Matt Haney, KP, but we never got to play them,” Hoard said. “I don’t know why. Russellville never got to play against Dardanelle, but I heard they were pretty good growing up. Now that I get to play with ’em, teamin’ up in the River Valley is pretty fun.”

Their chemistry on the court is evident, and they seem to be heating up in conference play.

“We have a saying, ‘Keep it all in the family,’” Williamson said. “Before I came I talked to Haney and KP, and I just knew it would be a good fit for us all together. I know them like the back of my hand. I know what they’re going to do and when they’re going to do it. We have a lot of chemistry on the court.”

Playing with each other is even more fun knowing that each one brings people to the games, Haney said.

“That’s another thing that I like about being here is that every game I have 10 to 12 people coming to watch, and Kendell’s family is here and Jared’s people,” he continued. “It’s cool to see all the people I know getting to experience this with us.”

Karlskint said he loves the diversity the four local young men bring to the floor and what they’ve done to help the Wonder Boys this year.

“We wouldn’t be in the position where we’re at without them,” he said. “They bring great things to the basketball court, but they’re also high-character individuals and I just love having them in the program.”

Williamson said the plan for the rest of the season is simple.

“The plan is not to lose,” he said with a smile. “We don’t want to lose another game. We want to win championships. Everybody’s plan is to win conference championships, but that’s not enough for me. I just want to win. I want to bring a championship home to Russellville.”